Unimaginable Cruelty

Posted by mcasti47, Community Contributor

How should animal aggressors be punished and to what extend? According to the PeaceFor Pets Organization "pets may suffer unexplained injuries, health problems, and permanent disabilities at the hands of abusers" (Peace for Pets, 2015). Nowadays, a great number of pets are malnourished and mistreated by hunters to the extreme of killing the animal. There are hunters who actually make excuses for assassinating them. These kind ofpeople justify themselves by affirming that committing an abuse to an animal is considered ahobby or an innocent sport. Studies have shown that "2% of adults in the U.S. self-report engaging in animal cruelty at some point in their lives, while an Italian study found that up to 50% of youth admitted engaging in cruelty" (Faunalytics, 2015). In whatever way society views this unacceptable issue altogether animals are getting slaughtered in unprecedented numbers. Arrogantly some people feel animals were born to be treated unfairly. Such is the most recent lLion killing outrage that occurred on July 28th, when a dentist paid the sum of $55,000 to kill Zimbabwe's most popular lion "Cecil." Dr. Walter Palmer, a hunter who enjoys killing animals with a bow and arrow has stirred turmoil among millions of people worldwide. A petition was created and over 100,000 signatures were collected against Dr. Palmer's actions towards "Cecil". Not only did he had "Cecil the lion" agonize for hours, but he also cut off his head to add it to his trophy collection. How inhumane do his actions need to be so that he gets punished for committing murder on Africa's most popular animal's wildlife? Cecil's incident is not the only form of cruelty committed towards animals because it happens on a daily basis as a sport or a hobby. The government should impose more laws to avoid more people doing these horrendousacts of brutality. Recent studies, show increasing numbers of rhinos and elephants who aredisappearing in alarming numbers in Africa. Due to these acts of animal cruelty killings, therehas been a loss of habitats. If hunters continue killing animals that are currently at the point ofbecoming extinct, then what's going to happen to our wildlife? Such horrible crimes committedagainst innocent animals must be prosecuted with at least some jail time. Hunters around the world kill animals for mere sport or personal ego gratification. Some hunters use animals for not only the exciting part of the sport, but for financial gain. For example, there was a case when Michael Vic, New York Jets quarterback, was caught having Pit-bull fights at his house. Animals were getting brutally killed and the people that were invited to his house were making bets against a particular dog. In other parts of Mexico, cock fighting is popular in Palenque {pit for cock fights}. People who own these roosters attach a blade on their feet and then people are charged money for betting who will be the winner. Bullfighting is something else that is allowed in Spain. Bulls are tortured with arrows used by the bullfighter until the animals bleed to death then the bullfighter is considered a winner when the bulls fall dead to the floor. In reality, society seems to have been trained over the years that killing an animal is acceptable. This injustice against an animal is considered common for hunters whopurchase a gun and a hunting license. The fight to conserve animals is considered an endless fight that seems to be heading in the wrong direction. Hopefully, one day we can find the solution to stop this issue. Meanwhile, we will continue to see a decline with our animal growth. In reality, these horrendous acts towards animals are never going to stop. Maybe once we see that elephants, rhinos and many other animals become endangered, that's when we will finally wake up our minds to realize the cruelty that we have put these animals through. Just because animals don't have a voice, it doesn't mean they are not living things! Who's going to speak/stand up for them?